Echo of Dream Land
by LooseGazpacho
Summary: Planet Pop Star faces one of the biggest threats as of far! Will Kirby and his friends save the day as always?
1. The Requiem of Stars

Among the stars in the far, far galaxy, many planets resided calmly in the wild, always active universe. But there was one that stood out the most: the five pointed star shaped planet Popstar. It's luscious greens filled with peaceful life, crystal clear oceans surrounding the land and benevolent creatures maintaining the wonder made it one of the most benevolent if passive planets in the universe. Even then there was a special place on this planet: Dream Land.

On the grassy, flowery fields of Dream Land there was a small dome like building near the blossoming tree. Under it, one small, round jolly pink fellow slept, perhaps dreaming about sweets once again. The name of the fellow was none other than Kirby, Popstar's most sung hero. Napping was one of his most common activities to do along with eating, playing with his friends and saving Pop Star from numerous threats, even when he's against all odds. Not far away from his home stood a rather large castle, owned none other by the (self proclaimed) monarch King Dedede. The penguin with a huge gut had his own little troops Waddle Dees under his belt, but all they did was maintaining Dream Land's benevolent status while he played chess with some of his minions. Sometimes he liked to cause ruckus, but other than that he has accepted his fate as Kirby's friend.

There was a lively forest near the castle, filled with jovial flowers and poetic birds. The forest itself was guarded by the humongous sentient but benevolent tree named Whispy Woods, who provided them food with a sincere smile on his face. Flowers and animals alike hanged around Whispy Woods as their guardian took care of them.

From the hill above the castle one could see almost all of Popstar from a far, be it Dream Land, the dusty desert, sparkling ocean, prancing forest, tranquil polar cap and more that the planet has to offer. One masked swordsman stood on it, watching above the resting Dream Land like a falcon.

"Hmmm…." wondered Meta Knight to himself as he observed. "It's been rather quiet as of late. However, I feel some kind of dread in the air, as if Pop Star has yet to face it's greatest threat yet. It's been long since the last adversary aggression and Kirby has disposed of them without any setbacks. Now I ask myself this: will he be prepared for any possible future threat? Will Dream Land itself be prepared?"

While Meta Knight watched over Dream Land, everyone was busy doing their own things: Kirby was still sleeping under the tree, Dedede played chess with one of his colleagues (and was losing), Whispy Woods was guarding the forest and the population was just mindlessly relaxing. A typical sight of every day Pop Star. Yet the aura of dread couldn't just shake off from him.

Suddenly, a massive shadow engulfed the entire area of Dream Land as the temperatures dropped. Meta Knight looked above and saw the cause of sudden darkness. A massive celestial body in the shape of an asteroid with kilometers long tentacles spawning from its body, blocked the sun as it rapidly descended from the orbit. It appeared to aim for the desert as it burned through the atmosphere of Pop Star. Without hesitation, Meta Knight jumped off the hill and glided as quickly as possible towards the direction of the dome like structure.

A gust of wind struck Kirby's face once Meta Knight successfully landed near him, waking him up in the process. After regaining full consciousness from waking up and Meta Knight pointing at the ever descending astral body, Kirby panicked before he dashed off towards the looming threat. Out of a sudden, Meta Knight received a signal from one of his henchmen.

"Sir! The unidentifiable object just keeps falling faster and faster! What shall we do?" noted one of his men while hyperventilating in panic.

"Launch Halberd immediately." responded Meta Knight without even flinching as he kept gazing at the falling object.

"Understood!" assured the voice before transmission was cut off. Meta Knight's wings spawned as he took off, flying as fast as he could towards his base.

Meanwhile, King Dedede and his minions stared in horror as the object kept burning more fiercely in the atmosphere. Deciding to take action, Dedede and his fellow Waddle Dees bum-rushed inside the castle and opened up the gates. Dozens of Waddle Dees and some Waddle Doos ran through the gates as they were sent on the mission to bring as many residents of Dream Land inside their sanctuary as possible. Despite some attempts, cannons failed to stop the asteroid like being due their short range and minimal strength to even put a dent on it.

Kirby kept chasing the infernally burning object on his feet before a smaller, shining star like vehicle intercepted him. He jumped on his Warp Star and quickly flew off towards the ever descending celestial body. Meanwhile, battleship Halberd loomed over Dream Land, chasing the threat as well, however it was dwarfed by the sheer size of its target. The vessel with Meta Knight's face in the front and bat-like wings attempted to align itself, so it could have the celestial body right in front of its nose.

"Prepare the main cannon." ordered Meta Knight in the bridge as he managed to align his ship towards the celestial object as they flew above the desert. The cannon with a mechanical arm on its side on top of Halberd started absorbing light while shaking in the process. Kirby, despite his efforts to pierce though the object with his Warp Star, could not truly catch up towards the threat, so he starting oozing every single possible energy, attempting to reach the ultimate speed.

"Fire!" commanded Meta Knight as the main cannon completed charging while Kirby was reaching hypersonic speeds, to the point of being mere meters away from the object. Just before the main cannon could fire, the giant celestial body collided with the surface of Pop Star, causing a colossal explosion which engulfed the entirety of desert. Every dune, hill or even architecture disintegrated into nothingness as the sand itself was vaporized in the atoms. Along with the explosion followed a massive shock wave, with the center of the impact being the epicenter. Kirby and Meta Knight gazed in terror as they watched the beginning of the end of their beloved planet. Once the shock wave impacted Kirby's Warp Star, it broke the star into pieces as it knocked out Kirby from its means of transport. Kirby could only scream as it was send off flying towards unknown while the pieces of Warp Star aimlessly fell towards the surface. After witnessing Kirby's fate, Meta Knight attempted to steer Halberd away from the shock wave as the cannon fired directly into explosion, but it reached the ship before it could start evading, destroying its wings in the process. The hull itself was barely even on the ship after the impact as Halberd started crashing down towards the surface as well.

The shock wave of the impact spread across all the Pop Star, scorching every possible flora on planet into mere dust. The sky itself burned as the firestorms raged upon the lives of Dream Land. Not a single patch of grass survived the fiery rage of the collision. The inhabitants tried to escape into the castle, their possible hideout, as the gates were closing down. Managing to close down the gates before the shock wave hit the castle, few of the life forms remained outside, knocking on the door and pleading to enter. Once realizing that there's no option, the beings in front of the gate faced towards the shock wave, embracing their absolute fate. Few of the Waddle Dee hugged each other before the shock wave hit them with one even shedding a tear. As the shock wave hit the castle, the life forms outside the castle burned alive before crumbling into dust. The castle itself collapsed from the sheer force until nothing but few shambles remained of it. The collapse revealed not a single life was inside of it.

The polar region, despite its ice not being affected by the firestorms due temperatures preventing them, fractured into pieces, causing dozens of massive earthquakes across it while the ocean started to receive drastic shifts in pressure and acidic levels. Aquatic life forms struggled to adapt to such changes, with a lot of them perishing in the process. Surface of the oceans was now filled with the corpses of the aquatic lives as the color of the sea itself darkened.

Once the shock wave and the firestorms settled down, dust rose up in the air, blocking sunlight and thus preventing flora to ever rise again. Just the things seemed to calm down, dust formed clouds started to spawn lightnings, which struck erratically across Pop Star. Some of them hit the charred remains of once lively trees in what once resembled a forest. Every second there was a lightning strike, most common being ones above the ocean. Each thunder echoed across the planet.

Hours of constant lightning strikes ended with a singular yet weak lightning as the situation seemed to finally calm down. The temperatures dropped down significantly to the point it was freezing even in the remains of the desert. Within hours, Pop Star became a mere shadow of its former self.

Somewhere in the desolate wastes of former grassfields of Dream Land, where the winds carried decent amount of dust in them, unconsciously lied Kirby, physically looking unharmed by the shock wave. Some time passed before he regained his conscience as he picked up himself to see what happened.

"...Poyo?" squeaked out Kirby as nothing but wasteland spread across his sight. One of the first destinations he chose to investigate if any friend of his was still there was the ruins of Dedede's castle. Kirby looked at the every corner of the once standing castle, yet nothing was found. Not a single sign of life. Then he wandered off to the lonesome hill, but he didn't have any luck there either. Increasingly saddened by not even seeing a glimpse of his friends, he decided to check the area near the remains of the forest.

Much to his surprise, he heard the small part of dirt shuffling. Checking it, he found a tiny ladybug on the ground.

"Poyo! Poyoo!" he cheered and pranced as he saw the ladybug, but once he looked closely, he stopped celebrating as he saw the ladybug was struggling to live while only having two frontal remaining. Kirby picked up the ladybug and patted it gently while he anxiously looked for anything that could help the little bug. He couldn't find anything in the nothingness of Dream Land. The little ladybug stopped moving and gently collapsed in Kirby's arms. Upon realizing that the ladybug passed away, Kirby dug a little hole in the ground and gently put the ladybug inside. Nearly on the brink of tears, Kirby decided to go home after being exhausted from his search. While he slowly walked home, he was constantly looking at the ground, thinking if he's gonna see anyone he knew ever again.

The night befell Dream Land, however instead of the sky being filled with shining stars and luminescent moon, it was pitch black that covered the part of Pop Star. The dome, despite its glass being shattered, was in a relative good condition, not even a single scratch. Kirby entered his home and closed his door. He put on his hat for nighttime before climbing on the bed. It did not take long for Kirby to let himself be overwhelmed by sleep.

Hour has passed, pure darkness surrounded planet Pop Star and Kirby was deep in sleep. He rolled in the bed a few times just to adjust the best position for him to sleep. Suddenly, a pool of darkness sneaked through the hole where the window used to be. It slowly approached the sleepy puffball. Once the pool stopped getting closer, it morphed into a creature with five razor sharp tendril-like limbs and glowing red eyes in the middle of its head. The moment it saw Kirby, it immediately lunged itself at him, slashing him in the process. The slash knocked Kirby into a wall as he managed to wake up. When he managed to get a full grasp of the situation, he saw a glowing fusion of red eyes in front of him with the rest of creature's body covered in the darkness. Kirby shuddered at the sight of it and desperately tried to escape, but the door was blocked by the creature of darkness, who proceeded to strike him any time he tried to go through the entrance. It prepared itself to lunge at terrified Kirby once again, thinking it got him cornered, but Kirby, out of sheer luck, jumped through the window and ran away as quickly as possible. The monstrosity of darkness decided to follow it by shifting into some kind of substance once again.

Kirby aimlessly ran in the complete darkness for his life away from the creature, but soon he found himself facing another glowing red eyes in front of him. It stopped running once he was ambushed by another similar being but then multiple red eyes encircled him, finding himself surrounded. The creatures of darkness screeched as they started to lunge at him, some even scoring slashes on him. He yelped in pain as each creature caused pain on him, yet he tried to escape but to no avail. He figured out that he couldn't escape them on foot, so he jumped up in the air and saw that one of the creatures was lagging behind, still in the liquid form. Thinking that it's a good idea, he distanced himself from the other creatures and attempted to inhale the monster that attacked it earlier. The pool of darkness didn't seem to show much resistance as in was sucked right in Kirby's mouth. Before Kirby could even swallow it, he felt some kind of nausea in his mouth, as if he was slowly losing consciousness of his. In response, he spat out the mass of darkness and aimed at it towards the other monsters, but the projectile did not hit any of them. However after being spat out, it did not morph again into a creature like them. The monsters fired energy beams out of their eyes, trying to hit take down the evading Kirby, but they lost track of him as he disappeared in the night.

The monsters gathered around, deciding to patrol the area and find him. One of the monsters decided to stay behind and check upon one of its companions, which was still in a liquid form. Suddenly, the pool itself morphed into a sphere, similar to Kirby, but instead of gaining stubby arms and legs, it grew razor sharp tendrils, akin those of its same species. It grew additional tendrils on its head as the glowing red eyes, shared by its kind, bursted out of its head. The sphere like creature started to tests its movement of its limbs. The five limbed creature slowly approached its spherical brethren, preparing a combat stance just in case. The sphere creature stared directly in the eyes of its specimen as it levitated motionlessly in front of it.

Suddenly, the sphere-like abomination lunged directly at the five limbed specimen, impaling it right in its eye with its tendril. The victim screeched in absolute agony as its energy was absorbed by its own companion. It could feel being internally torn apart before it ceased to exist as its brethren completed the assimilation. After finishing its move, the sphere-like abomination cackled in a deep voice before deciding to go after Kirby, disappearing in the darkness that engulfed the planet.


	2. Distortion of the familiar

The sun rose above the forest area of Dream Land, yet only few of the sun rays could actually reach the surface, thanks to the amount of dust blocking in the atmosphere. Instead of being blue, the sky was colored light brown thanks to the particles in the air. The forest area wasn't much of a forest as it was a place scattered with deceased life forms resembling charred tree trunks with some of their roots peeking out of the soil. Where once different species could be seen in the place prancing around in peace was now a home for only of the few insect like creatures, predominately ones which resembled large antlions. These feed upon any microscopic creatures, mostly plant-like cells. The dark brown soil itself had some miniature pits in it, presumably from centipede-like animals. The forms resembling tree trunks were mostly half of the size of an average tree, pointing their main spike up in air. Some of the life forms seemed to have small but glowing blue veins along with spores on them.

Somewhere in the area near one of the trunk-like life form, a punk puffball was laying with the face on the ground. A smaller antlion-like insect with three white eyes, one of them in the middle of its head, landed on his head to take a rest. Feeling an itch on his head, Kirby woke up and picked himself up, making the insect fly away.

"Where am I?" Kirby wondered as he looked at the area before deciding to venture forth to see if he could find anyone, leaving footprints behind every step he made. Wandering through the "forest", he only saw constant groups of the trunk-like life forms spread across the area and few of the insects flying above him, seemingly docile yet ignoring the curious puffball. The antlion like bugs had three pairs of wings instead of two, noticeable pincers as their mouths and seemingly no legs. On certain "trunks" were placed hives of their species with hives resembling shoddily made spheres with big hole on them. The more he wandered deeper in the area, the fog started to show up, albeit its density levels were quite low. Sometimes Kirby stepped on the pits, causing the centipede-like animals to bite him right in the foot. He yelped when he was bitten before removing the bugs off his foot and placing them back into pits, but the pain itself he received could be compared to a paper cut.

"I have never seen such animals before. Are they dangerous?" thought Kirby to himself while he kept exploring the area. "But...where is everyone else? Someone has to be here...right?"

He stopped for a moment to get a closer look around the particular tree trunk. The life form itself had visible blue veins and spores on it. While he had some distance from it, he started to hear crackles in his head. The closer he got towards the life form with veins, the louder the crackles got. Eventually it reached the point where Kirby stopped approaching the tree trunk and backed off as quickly as possible due the increasing headache.

"H-huh? Why did my head hurt?" he questioned to himself while going away from that life form as far as possible, continuing exploring the area like he decided before. After some time, he caught a glimpse of familiar shapes in the distance between the scattered tree-like life forms. Upon getting closer towards the shapes, it turned out they were six Waddle Dees, seemingly unscathed laying on the ground. Kirby felt a massive relief after witnessing them and ran towards the laying Waddle Dees, prancing in joy. Once he got closer, he poked at them to see if they would wake up. Not a single one responded.

"...They don't seem to wake up." Kirby realized after trying multiple times to get them up before deciding to leave them resting, somberly walking away. Suddenly, a cloud of dark violet gas materialized from thin air right above the Waddle Dees and descended into them. The seemingly deceased creatures of Dream Land gained a new life, albeit their eyes morphed into a singular, red eye, their stubby appendages became thin, razor sharp tendrils and their skin became dark as the night. The newer creatures of the dark observed the close proximity of the area before spotting Kirby, who was walking away from them. Not a moment of hesitation, the creatures of the dark screeched as they lunged themselves towards him. Kirby turned back to see the source of the screech, only to find out that the monsters were just above his head midair, preparing to strike him down. He briefly froze in terror before he started running, barely evading the strike of the creatures. As Kirby was running away, the creatures of the dark started crawling towards him as fast as they could, sometimes even leaping in order to catch him. More they ran inside the area where once lush forest stood, the fog got denser.

After some time, the creatures could not see Kirby in front of them, so they decided to inspect the area where they thought he was hiding. The area, now deeper in the forest made out of deformed life forms, was completely covered in dense fog, making it that the only closest objects and life forms could be seen. Few of the tree stumps remained here, along with the soil itself being rather soggy, sometimes it even had very shallow puddles of water on it. Alongside antlion-like insects, there were large gray wasps with huge stingers, equipped with neurotoxins and water strider like insects as well, drifting on the surfaces of the puddles. These wasps preyed upon the antlion like creatures and water strider-like animals, bringing their prey towards their hives. However, the wasps that were unfortunate to land into small pits were food for the centipede-like predators. A small of group of wasps flew above the patrolling creatures of the dark, hindering their search in the process. Any battles with them shortly ended as the wasps who got too close to them were sliced up by the creatures in defense. The creatures consumed the wasps after their "victory", assimilating them into their mouthless bodies.

Somewhere behind a stump between the tree-like life forms, Kirby was hiding from them, trembling in fear.

"W-what are they? How did they manage to wake up?" he kept asking himself inside his head while still shaking in terror, hoping that they wouldn't spot him. Had it not been for trembling, he would have been completely motionless. Suddenly, one of the silhouettes of a monster appeared behind him with its red eye glowing. It stood there, waiting for Kirby to pop out, but he didn't even want to look back. After the four limbed monster's patience lowered, it decided to check in more closely as it approached the stump. The creature reached the stump, but it didn't spot Kirby, him being suddenly gone from his position. It decided to return to its patrol after not finding him.

Kirby himself changed his position from hiding behind a stump to covering behind the tree-like life form, heavily panting in the process.

"That was too close!" he thought to himself, breathing heavily from his move. From a distance, he saw a shape similar to a Waddle Dee laying on the ground. Kirby slowly approached the being before it turned out that the shape itself was in fact a heavily bruised Waddle Doo, clinging on its life while missing a foot. Once Kirby got close enough, Waddle Doo looked up in his eyes, barely moving as it crawled near him. He wondered what happened to Waddle Doo, considering his current state. Suddenly, Waddle Doo attempted to crawl inside his mouth while making sounds resembling begging. Kirby tried to push the struggling Waddle Doo away, confused by its actions but at the same time trying to come up with the other way to help. Suddenly, the glowing red eyes with the silhouettes of the creatures of the dark appeared behind Kirby's back. Waddle Doo panicked at the sight of the beasts and through sheer instinct crawled inside Kirby's mouth, swallowing him without the host realizing it. Following Waddle Doo's last action, an orange-red colored jester's hat materialized on his head along with the golden wand, which had a blue orb as its top in his hand.

"Alright, no more running away now!" Kirby boldly thought to himself as he prepared himself for combat, raising up his wand. The beast only saw a change of silhouette of Kirby and lunged at him without hesitation, but the moment it leaped towards him, Kirby charged up his wand and fired an energy blast at the jumping beast. When the blast hit the beast, the power of it knocked out the beast as it was sent flying backwards, rendering its life functions useless before evaporating into thin air.

Kirby faced towards the remaining monsters, glaring at them. The creatures of the dark simultaneously leaped towards him, only for all of them to be met with the whip made out of energy, knocking them back for a bit. The creatures picked themselves up quickly, preparing for another attack, but just as they were about to leap again, one of them got hit by the energy blast, receiving the same fate as the monster earlier. Despite the loss of their specimen, two of the remaining monsters leaped again. Kirby jumped up in the air, dodging the attacks of both monsters and aimed diagonally midair towards one of the beasts, firing a stream of energy bolts at it, crippling it in the process. When Kirby landed on his feet, he immediately charged up his wand and executed another blast directed at the beast, disintigrating the body from sheer energy as it screeched in pure agony. The last remaining creature dodged the blast and leaped towards him, but landed in front of him instead trying to take him down in a leap as it prepared one of its tendrils to inflict multiple slashes on his body. Just as it was about to strike, Kirby, without time to spare, assaulted with the energy whip made from his wand, striking it with blinding speed before it finished off the beast with the charged up blast, ending it in a small explosion.

Once the monsters were finished, Kirby lowered its guard down, observing for any possible attacks from any direction. After some time, he loosened the grip on the wand as he calmed down.

"What are they? Someone has to know!….but who?" Kirby asked himself as he kept looking at the trunk like beings, getting a clearer idea to what the drenched landscape, sparingly inhabited by few kinds of insects and arachnids, resembled the luscious forest that was once filled with life.

"Oh! Whispy probably knows!" he answered to himself, dashing off towards whatever he thought the center of the "forest" was as quickly as he could. The closer he got to the center, the density of the fog increased as the amount of animalistic life forms decreased. The trunk-like life forms also started to appear less in the fog. The moisture in the soil started to become increasingly apparent to the point it felt like a very shallow swamp. Kirby called for Whispy Woods over and over as the words echoed through out the area….yet not a single response. He could only see few meters ahead before it got obscured by the blinding cloud.

Further he went, the surface of water engulfed half of his feet, slowing down in the process. While less frequent, he still kept calling for Whispy. Only the silence followed, not a single life form near but him. Suddenly, he saw large roots spurting out of the soil, pointing towards the particle filled sky. At first, it was only one of them.

"Whispy? I can't believe he became so big!" he wondered as he started happily sprinting towards the center. Closer towards the center he went, more of the "roots" started to appear, some of them pointing diagonally towards the sky.

"Wait a second….Is this truly Whispy?" questioned Kirby inside his mind when he saw more of these roots as he started to slow down. One of the roots disappeared into the ground out of the sudden without Kirby initially noticing it. He looked back before continuing venturing into the center, feeling chills inside of him yet preparing his wand for the possibility of an attack.

Despite the density of the fog, the origin of the roots started to show up with them collectively bulging out of the soil and few of them covered in gray water, leading towards the stump with an extraordinary radius, yet only thing that was visible in Kirby's field of view was the bottom of it. Kirby decided to hop on one of the root in order to ease walking towards his goal, not being bothered by water.

"Poyo! (Whispy!)" Kirby called out once more. Just like before, there seemed to be no answer.

Suddenly, a low trembling growl echoed through out the area, making Kirby's entire body twitch. A silhouette of a creature with a worm like body combined with the one of an isopod, two long appendages with crustacean like claws, each of them having a pair of two eyes, resembling the ones of which flies have and an inner mouth with short tongue like tendrils spurting out. The head of the creature, where four pair of antennas pointed towards the sky, resembled a mantis, except it's jaw was like the one found on the skull of the snake. The jaw itself sticked out of the flesh of the head, making fibers of muscles visible with the naked eye. Each side of the head had sixteen small, white eyes on them, glowing through the fog. While the body was armored, the back contained multiple amount of glowing blue spores, which spread through out the body.

Kirby could not muster a noise while staring with both curiosity and uncertainty at the beast as it turned towards it, pointing its claws at him. Before Kirby could even fully grasp the situation, the beast snapped with one of its claws, creating a blast of sonic waves through the thin air. The pressurized blast knocked Kirby backwards, sending him near the sky pointing roots. Kirby managed to pick himself up just before one of the roots pierced the soil, jumping aside to dodge the attack. He glared at the beast as he dashed off towards it while dodging the incoming roots from the ground. Suddenly, the roots stopped bursting out around Kirby's current location, rather they popped up in front of him. He bumped into one of them as it pushed him back. The worm-like monstrosity aimed with its roots to strike Kirby with the previous tactic it used, but just as it was about to strike, Kirby flipped over sideways, firing a stream of energy bolts at the root. However, the bolts barely made a scratch on the roots. Other roots blocked the way, so Kirby jump just when one of the attacking roots pierced through the ground as the started to float towards the mutated beast.

The mutated beast noticed the position of its adversary and aimed its claws at the puffball, snapping with them once again. The sonic blast hit Kirby, knocking him out of the sky as he felt intense pressure inside his body. After landing on the ground, he quickly picked himself up just before one of the roots could strike him. Running towards the beast while evading the strikes of the roots and when needed, briefly floating with him dropping at times when the beast snapped with its claws, Kirby arrived near the beast as he jumped on one of the roots, angrily glaring at the insectoid creature.

"I won't get down so easily!" Kirby thought to himself while beginning to charge him wand, preparing to counterattack the beast. The mutated creature aimed at the Kirby with its claws, but instead of using sound-based projectile, it opted to thrust its pincers towards him, attempting to crush his body in the process. The moment the beast was about to get Kirby between its claws, he jumped above and fired the energy blast from his wand at the beast, hitting it right on the armored worm-like body. However, the blast got absorbed in the exoskeleton of the beat, doing no damage whatsoever. The beast, after witnessing an offense from the side of the adversary, turned its head towards Kirby and started vomiting yellow acidic liquid filled with chunks of its prey in it. While Kirby managed to evade it by jumping backwards as he started to loiter around the beast, the acid spread across the roots, even leaking into the water. The stenched liquid emitted vapors in the air, hindering Kirby's ability to float near the beast, where he was too close in order for beast to strike with the sound based ability. The beast swung with its long appendages, attempting to crush Kirby with its claws, but despite its efforts, floating puffball managed to dodge them all. Filled with frustration, the beast began to cause ear piercing shrieks as it lunged itself towards him, trying to bite him with its jagged fangs, which had a venom gland, containing the same acidic liquid from the previous aggression.

Even though Kirby managed to dodge few of the strikes, sometimes the beast coming dangerously close to finishing off him, he was starting to sweat as his body started to descend down, despite the attempts to stay up, thanks to vapors. The beast looked at him and took the opportunity to prepare for the finishing blow as it attempted to grin with its jaw. Kirby looked right in the eyes of the beast, possibly, flailing his arms around as he tried to evade as quickly as possible.

The beast lunged itself at him with all the power it had, trying to deliver the decisive move. Just when the beast was about to pierce Kirby with its fangs, a spear flew right into the right side of eyes of the beast, piercing it right into one of the dots. The beast screeched in pain and swung its arms in panic, firing few of the sound blasts at random as the invisible liquid from the eyes started to pour down on the water. Kirby was both confused and pleasantly surprised by this attack from unknown direction.

Suddenly, a Waddle Dee with a blue bandana on his head leaped at the beast and grabbed the spear with its stubby arms, spinning around it like an acrobat. Kirby smiled greatly as he felt utter joy inside his heart after seeing one of his friends still being alive. Bandana Dee jumped on the head of the beast, waving at Kirby to join in. Kirby, with all the remaining strength he had, glided towards spear as he grabbed it, trying to keep on the grip of it as the beast tried to shake away them off its body. From holding on the spear, he jumped on the head of the beast, where Bandana Dee was waiting for him. Once he managed to climb on the head, Bandana Dee gave him a pat before he quickly removed the spear from the eye, causing a geyser of the invisible liquid spraying from it as the beast screeched further. After managing to secure the grip on the beast while evading the flails of its arms, Bandana Dee looked at the mouth and jumped into it, placing a spear between its jaws in order to secure a place.

Kirby looked at what Bandana Doo was doing and jumped in the mouth, exchanging places with him. Starting with a furious glance, Kirby prepared his wand and started whipping the fangs with the energy bolts, destroying them in the process. The beast realized that it was outmatched, so it prepared itself for the final emergency attack. The insides of the beast started to emit yellow glow, possibly preparing to spit out the acid. Kirby, having none of that, charged the wand as quickly as he could before the acid could reach him.

"HAYAAAAH!" he yelled as he fired the fully charged energy blast right into the mouth of the beast, impacting the acid. Just before anything could happen, Bandana Dee dove right into the mouth to grab the spear along with Kirby. The moment he got his spear back, he started spinning it like a helicopter as Kirby was holding on to his leg, exhausted from the encounter. Meanwhile, the collision between the blast and the acid caused the reaction inside the beast, making its head explode as the beast let out the final screech. The chunks of the beast landed in the water while some of its blood sprayed even Kirby, which made him scrub the foot, otherwise he would feel a lil bit gross. He glanced back, while he quickly looked forward due the sight of the fate of the beast made him wince, he felt a relief that the battle is over. The fog started to disappear from the forest, revealing the swamp, along with the few trunk-like life forms standing in the water. What once was the throne of the beast came to be occupied by the other animal-like life forms, feasting on the corpse.

Bandana Doo and Kirby landed away from the swamp as much as they could, nearing the end of the forest itself. The moment they landed, Kirby hugged Bandana Dee as hard as he could, sometimes chirping "Poyo!" in happiness. Bandana Doo didn't seem to mind Kirby's glomping, but after he let off of him, he started walking forward, inviting Kirby to join in. The pink puffball, without hesitation as always, decided to follow him. It did not take them long to get out of the forest to reach some kind of area resembling a meadow. On the meadow itself, a familiar face stood. The fellow of the similar posture, but masked, holding a golden jagged sword in its hand. The mask itself showed some rather deep cracks across it as he stood in the middle of the meadow.

"Hiii!" greeted Kirby, waving his arms and ran towards the masked individual with Bandana Dee joining. Once he got closer, he noticed that the individual was Meta Knight, who was waiting for them. Kirby noticed the cracks on his mask and his instinct to help kicked in, checking on how to aid his wounded friend.

"I will be fine." said Meta Knight like he barely felt a thing, making him cease his attempts to aid. Kirby tilted his head in confusion, wondering why would he say such a thing. Bandana Dee silently followed the interaction.

"Kirby, Bandana Dee….did you see anyone else?" asked Meta Knight while standing still. Kirby and Bandana Dee made a gesture, which confirmed that no one else was found.

"Ah….so it's only us." concluded Meta Knight as he turned away, looking at the sun. "Hmmm...Planet Pop Star has faced many threats of the galactic proportions before, but what this celestial body brought in is unlike anything we've experienced before. An event that I've dreaded has become a reality."

All of them looked up in the sky, wondering what will be the future of planet Pop Star. The wind carried the particle filled clouds, covering the sun.

"Say, Kirby…." said Meta Knight as he turned back to Kirby with his yellow eyes glowing. "Did you encounter any….. _monsters_?"

"Poyo! Poyo! (Yes, indeed! They have attacked me the moment when they saw me! I was just sleeping at my home….)" nodded Kirby as he made a concerned look.

"You too? They have attacked me in the night, when I was rescuing the surviving crew when Halberd crashed. I've fought them back, but these monsters showed no mercy. Some of them even showed their….abilities on my colleagues. Bandana Dee and I were the only ones who made it out." explained Meta Knight, clenching his sword as his fist shook. Kirby felt chills after hearing the story of his friend, but decided to fight back when the time calls for it. Bandana Dee stepped towards Kirby, just to feel safe around him.

The sun started to descend, beginning to spread darkness across Dream Land once again.

"I would suggest that we investigate the crater in the desert. We must abandon this area quickly before the night comes. Quickly!" commanded Meta Knight as both Kirby and Bandana Dee started to run towards the direction of the sun, leaving the forest behind it all.

The night dawned upon Dream Land, covering the "forest" in total darkness. The life forms hid themselves from the empty dusk, making the area seem completely void of life. The water remained still while the corpse of the beast, despite some of the life forms consuming it, stood there, from a distance almost undisturbed.

Suddenly, the black tendrils of the creatures of the dark appeared from the water. Five limbed monstrosities emerged from the water, along with the levitating specimens which had four tentacles and a glowing sphere composed of red particles as its "eye" as the support, started investigating the area to find any possible other life forms that are not them. They patrolled over the entire area, only finding the corpse of the mutated beast. Since it was not alive, they decided to not bother with it and continued their search.

Out of complete darkness, the levitating six limbed sphere-like abomination appeared, witnessing the corpse. It decided to get close to it, to see if it has anything that would fulfill its interests. After fully inspecting the body, from its exterior to its blown off head, the abomination stabbed through the armor of the body and started absorbing the energy. The corpse completely disappeared after the abomination completed the assimilating. After the process was done, one of the limbs of the creature started to emit a violet glow with some kind of liquid spawning it. To test the newly gained ability, the creature of the dark poured a few drops of the liquid onto the water. The moment the drops hit the surface, the water gradually changed its color from gray to glowingly purple. Whatever life form was struck by the liquid from the creature, it was killed instantly. However, the intoxicated water only gave benefits towards the creature's species. Slowly but surely, the toxin spread across the swamp, engulfing everything on its path.

Along with assimilation, the creature felt some kind of presence that was long due. It quietly growled towards the unknown as it started to go towards the direction where the sun descended, where it sensed something familiar.

Something _very_ familiar.


	3. Light of Hope

Clouds of Pop Star were once colored like snow, puffy and soft. Now, they're filled with the dead dust of the planet, colored in a sand like color, engulfed by fog. An eternal sandstorm raged within the clouds, giving a chance to live there only to the most adaptable organisms. A being could walk on the clouds before, now was it sort of easier to walk on them, since they consisted more of the solid matter. Sometimes a lightning struck through the clouds, although some of them went upward instead. The chance of rain ever being then was lower than zero.

Kirby, Meta Knight and Bandana Dee traveled through those clouds, being challenged by the slight sandstorm that was happened at that moment, but they didn't let themselves to be stopped by mere weather. Lightnings generally avoided them, but sometimes a few of them flashed right in front of them. Not a single word was spoken between each other, as they were too busy trying to get away from those beings as far as possible. Even the wind that sometimes blew in their direction didn't stop them.

Suddenly, they stopped after witnessing a slight yet unknown silhouette from distance. The figure seemed to be completely hooded, carrying a big pole like object, assisting it when walking. As it got closer, Meta Knight prepared his sword in case of an attack. With silhouette getting closer, it was revealed that the hood was colored brown and it covered nearly the entire body bar hands and feet. The being seemed to be unaffected by the wind as its cloth didn't move an inch. Face of the being was hidden as well. By the time it got closer, Meta Knight increased his guard by pointing his sword at it. Kirby prepared a battle stance too, but wasn't exactly too sure if the figure that was approaching to them was hostile. Bandana Dee remained observant, but doing nothing that could cause escalations. The figure only stood there, not even raising its pole-like object in defense.

"I do not seek needless fights." warned the figure to them. Kirby lowered his guard down, now becoming curious of the figure. Bandana Dee kept observing.

"Who are you?" asked Meta Knight, still pointing his sword at the figure. He received no response from the hooded figure as it started to inspect them from a distance. Suddenly, the figure towards Kirby as it approached him. Kirby tilted his head, being rather perplexed by the actions of the unknown figure.

"Do my eyes deceive me?..." wondered the figure as crouched down towards Kirby, slightly touching Kirby on his head with its finger. Kirby kept wondering what did the figure mean.

"You must be the fabled Warrior of the Stars!" exclaimed the figure, changing the mood of the situation entirely. Meta Knight folded away his sword as he observed them.

"Poyo? (Huh? What do you mean?)" pondered Kirby as he saw the figure stand up in front of him, aiding itself with the pole-like object.

"Forgive me, for I have yet to introduce myself." said the figure as it removed the hood from its face. It was revealed that the true identity of the figure was a female specimen of moth-like biped. She seemed to be slender, beige colored as she had rather long yet thin limbs. Her heavy-lidded eyes were red as they glowed even in the brightest of days. The triangular face of hers spouted two mandibles on either side. Beneath the cloth, the front of her torso was protected with thick, white fluff and behind her back she had some kind of wing-like appendages. The pole-like object was her spear that had some kind of crystal on the pointed head, illuminating blue light.

"I am A-Zol, one of the last remnants of Luminoth in the galaxy. Along with Warrior of the Stars, you must also be Swordsman of The Night and Helper in Need." she introduced herself to them as she bowed down as the part of the greeting. Kirby and Bandana Dee waved happily at her while Meta Knight just nodded as a greeting.

"For many cycles I have lived on this planet, researching the history and organisms on it. However, I am native to this planet, as I come from Aether. Your planet gave me a lot of reminiscence of my old home….It pains me deeply that your home suffered the similar calamity as my own…." informed A-Zol in a calm tone. Kirby became curious as he paid attention to her words. Bandana Dee also stepped closer, so that he could get a better understanding of the situation.

"The same kind of reckoning happened to your planet too?" asked Meta Knight.

"Indeed. I shall tell you the peril of my world, perhaps it will sound similar to yours." spoke A-Zol as she created a hologram of her planet with her palm, impressing Kirby and Bandana Dee. Even Meta Knight seemed to be amused by the hologram, despite not showing any visible signs of it. "Luminoth were once traversing through the cosmos to find ourselves home. During our travels, we have met many kinds of intelligent species, sharing our technology and wisdom with them. One day, fortune smiled upon us as we found out an ideal place for home….Aether. It was filled with vast plains and luscious forests, containing many life forms to accompany the harmony of the planet. Although we had to interfere with the energy source of Aether, since it was too dangerous for the stability of the planet, Aether offered us everything we needed and more..."

The hologram suddenly depicted a celestial body, similar to that one that has wrought devastation upon Pop Star, crashing right into Aether as the waves of destruction spread on the surface. Kirby and Bandane Dee jumped a little bit back from being startled while Meta Knight felt a large amount of unease after witnessing the events on hologram. For a brief moment, a second version of Aether was displayed, being nearly identical yet off-putting.

"The era of prosperity ended once a stellar object collided with our home, bringing ruin upon our beautiful home. The vast plains became a single desolate desert and the joyous forests turned were flooded, turning them into morbid swamps. Many life forms were eradicated by the catastrophe, but the Luminoth lived on. Soon we have discovered that another Aether was born…..Aether of pure darkness." continued A-Zol before the hologram of her planet disappeared from her palm.

"Could it be that _those monsters_ come from Dark Aether?" caught on Meta Knight. A-Zol remained quiet for a moment, but her arm that held the spear trembled.

"...They are….. _the Ing."_ revealed A-Zol with a calm tone, yet her voice was filled with wrath. Another hologram was created, the one resembling the aforementioned monsters. As an example, she chose the five limbed specimen to show. Kirby felt an unnatural amount of fear witnessing the hologram as he started to tremble. Bandane Dee hid behind Kirby out of complete fear. Meta Knight already grasped his sword in advance.

"P-poyo…(T-they….they are attacking my home...)" stuttered Kirby while looking at the hologram of Warrior Ing.

"Creatures of complete malevolence...the ones of darkness….The Horde spawned upon the creation of Dark Aether. Once they have arrived to our Aether, they have started massacring everything on their path. They wouldn't stop the slaughter until nothing but an Ing remained. We didn't waste a single moment mobilizing our forces to combat the Ing. The Luminoth have stood against them for decades, but they have overwhelmed us. The Ing turned everything against us, from fauna to our ver y own war machines. We were nearly annihilated by them, hadn't it been for my colleague, who has realized we were losing the war, and his plan to put the remaining Luminoth into a statis until our home gets a salvation...Liberation from the Ing." concluded A-Zol as she looked down to the ground. Kirby went out and hugged her, thinking that she feels down. A-Zol gave him a pat on the head in response.

"My condolences….No planet deserves such fate..." lamented Meta Knight after hearing her story.

"Indeed….I'm afraid the Ing have already begun their conquest outside of my home. They will seek other planets and eradicate any life on it. Seems that this planet was a perfect candidate for their conquest." said A-Zol as she looked around, witnessing the ongoing sandstorm.

"But fear not, warriors. The Ing are still young here, they don't have almost complete control of the planets just yet. I have constructed four Energy Controllers there, not only to regulate this planet's energy source, but to keep it safe from being completely overtaken by darkness, including the one of the Ing. However, the Ing will seek out for Energy Controllers as well and if they manage to get their claws on them, the world shall succumb into an eternal darkness, where only the Ing would strive." assured A-Zol as she made a hologram out of Pop Star. It displayed bright points on it, locating the Energy Controllers.

"I shall join you on your quest as I cannot defeat the Ing by myself. My time is coming to an end, but I refuse to die until the menace of the Ing is no more. For years I have searched you, Warrior of the Stars, as I've heard the tales of how you can vanquish the forces of malevolence with relative ease. " offered A-Zol as her hand reached out for them.

"Poyo! Poyo! (Thank you! I didn't know I was well known, heh...)" mused Kirby as he gave out his stubby arm to her.

"Thank you. Any kind of help would be most appreciated. Please join us." said Meta Knight, also offering her a hand. Bandana Dee also quietly gave her his stubby hands as well.

"Together we shall defeat the Ing once and for all. Now, we must make haste. I shall guide you to one of our Energy Controllers. May the light of Aether shine upon us!" stated A-Zol as she gave her blessings towards her new friends. They went forth, now unaffected by the sandstorm, thanks to the shield made out of energy. The source of the shield seemed to be the crystal on a spear. A-Zol used her spear as a walking stick.

"There is one thing that you must wary, warriors. I've felt its presence there." cautioned A-Zol during their journey. Kirby became curious on what could that be as he looked towards her.

"What could it be? One of more advanced Ing?" asked Meta Knight while assuming on what could her answer be.

"Perhaps, but there's one anomaly on this planet that wasn't spotted on my planet." answered A-Zol, to which caused even greater curiosity around her.

" _Beware of the Parasite Warrior…."_

After hearing those words, Kirby felt a slight shiver, but kept going forward. Meta Knight and Bandana Dee remained puzzled but also kept walking. Their journey through the clouds continued until they disappeared into the sandstorm, continuing their path to find the aforementioned Energy Controller.

The night dawned once again upon Pop Star. The clouds were colored pitch black with only lightnings brighting up the sky occasionally. While the lightnings in the day were no different from ordinary ones, the nocturnal ones had a slight tint of blue around them and were much fiercer and frequent. More of the upward lightnings happened during the night. The clouds were so dense that even airborne Ing didn't bother much with them, keeping their operations on the ground. No sign of life were in the clouds. A few of the lightnings struck once again, but suddenly they became horizontal. More of the lightnings happened, gathering around a certain unknown point. It was then found out that those lightnings had one but same destination: the upper tendrils of a sole levitating Ing. It absorbed electricity from them until it decided that it had enough of them. Suddenly, as a test of its new ability, it fired a beam composed out of electricity towards the clouds, splitting them up in the process. The clouds remained electrified thanks to the attack. Satisfied with its results, the Ing kept moving forward, towards unknown, possibly to find out something familiar, someone close to it.

 _That Ing was no other than Parasite Warrior._


End file.
